Railroad-track drill.



F. E. DAMRON.

RAILROAD TRACK DRILL.

APPLICATION nun NOV. a0, 1908.

970,312. Patented Sept. 13,- 1910.

2 BKBETB-BHEBT 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK E. DAMRON, 0F ROANOKE, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO H. F.MINTER, 0F ROANOKE, VIRGINIA.

RAILROAD-TRACK DRILL.

Patented Sept. 13, 1910. Serial No. 465,142.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. DAMRON, a citizen of the United States, andresiding at Roanoke, in the county of Roanoke and State of Virginia,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Track Drills, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention is an adjustable hand operated track drill, and theobject of the invention is a drill of this kind which can be easilytransportedfrom place to place, readily set into position for use, andwhich is provided with an automatic feed, said feed being also undercontrol of the operator, and means for automatically withdrawing the bitupon completion of the drilling.

The invention consists of certain novel features of constructionespecially designed to attain the above set forth objects, and which aredescribed in the specification, pointed out in the claims and shown inthe accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device, a track rail being shown incross section. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, an oerating lever being omitted. Fig. 3 is a ront elevation. Fig.4 is adetail sectional view through a clutch. Fig. 5 is an end view of saidclutch.

In constructing the device I employ a U- shaped tubular frame 1 and uponthe lower free end of the rear member of said frame is secured aT-coupling 2 into which is threaded a supportin member 3. Upon the othermember of the frame 1 is secured a 4-way coupling or union 4 to which issecured a front member 5 which forms a support for the drillingmechanism to be hereafter described. The frame 1 is further supported bya horizontally extending tubular piece 6 which passes through thecoupling 4 and is threaded into the T-coupling 2. This piece 6 forms abrace which extends transversely across the track rail, and slidablymounted upon the same is a 4-way coupling 7 which carries a shank 8bifurcated and notched to form holding members 8 which engage the innerside of the rail. These holding members are locked in position by a setscrew 9 which threads with the upper portion of the coupling 7 and bearsupon the brace 6, said set screw being operated by a suitable hand rod9. In the bow portion of the frame 1 I secure a bearing plate 10 fromone side of which pr0- jects a suitable stationary handle 11 to begripped by the left hand of the operator and by which the device issteadied while in use, and by means of which it may also be convenientlymoved from place to place. The plate 10 also provides a suitable bearingfor a shaft 12 upon which is mounted a bevel gear wheel 13 rotated bythe ri ht hand of the operator by means of a suitable handle 14. Thisgear meshes with and drives a bevel gear 15 fixed u on the upper end ofa vertical shaft 16 whic passes vertically and centrally through theframe 1. To brace the frame and also to provide suitable bearings forthe shaft 16 I place suitable T-couplings upon the frame 1 which carrycross bars 17 which in turn support 4-way couplings 18 through which theshaft 16 loosely passes. Upon the shaft 16 and about midway the lengthof the frame 1 is fixed an eccentric 19 provided with an cecentric strap20 and arm 21, which arm is pivotally connected to a crank shaft 22 towhich is pivotally connected a feed pawl 23 which engages and rotatesstep by step a ratchet wheel 24, the pawl being operated back and forthby the eccentric 19 and the connectin parts above mentioned. Turningwith said ratchet wheel and upon the same shaft is a small pinion 25,which meshes with a gear wheel 26 upon the shaft on which is a smallpinion 27 which engages the teeth of a rack bar 28, said bar belngmounted to slide in suitable brackets 29 carried by the side members ofthe frame.

It will be understood that the train gearing above referred to and shownin the drawings may be changed without in any way altering my invention,as this gearing is intended mainly for the purpose of regulating thespeed of feed of the bit.

A lever 30 is pivotally mounted upon one side of the lowermost coupling18 and is provided with a slot 31 into which projects a pin 32 carriedby the rack bar 28 and it will be obvious that as the rack bar travelsrearwardly, being driven by the pinion 27, the lever 30 will be swungupon its pivotal point, this will cause the lower end of the lever toswing toward the track rail and will serve to feed the bit as willappear rotates a chuck 35 in which is held a bit 36- of any desiredkind. The gear wheel 34 is keyed upon a slidable shaft 37 which is fixedto the chuck 35, the outer end of the said shaft having a suitablethreaded head upon which said chuck is threaded. The rear end of theshaft 37 rotates within a sleeve 38 supported between slidable tubes 39,said tubes sliding upon rods 52, said rods being carried respectively bythe front piece 5 and the rear supporting leg 3. The rear end portion ofthis sleeve is cut out and slotted as shown at 40 and a pin 41 iscarried by the lower inwardly turned end portion of a lever 30 whichprojects into said slot 40, and as the lower end of the lever swingsforwardly the tubes 39 slide upon the rods 52, and the shaft 37 is movedforwardly through the gear wheel 34, thus advancing the chuck 35, andbit 36. This forward feed is automatic and is due to the swinging of thelever 30 by reason of its engagement with the pin 32.

A spring 42 is connected to the front member of the frame 1 and also tothe lever 30 and draws said lever and connected parts back to theirnormal positions upon release of certain ratchet mechanism, whichmechanism is as follows :A locking pawl 43 is pivoted to therear memberof the frame 1 and engages the ratchet 24, thus preventing reverserotation of said ratchet. A spring 44 connected to the frame 1 and tothe pawl 43 normally holds said pawl in locking engagement with theratchet. An adjustable screw 45 working through the feed ratchet 23bears at its lower end upon a lug 46 carried by the locking pawl 43 sothat the lifting of the locking pawls will also lift the pawl 23 thusdisengaging both pawls from the ratchet. The lifting of the feed pawl 23however simply lifts the screw 45 away from the lug 46 thus stopping thefeed but leaving the ratchet 24 locked against reverse rotation. To liftthese pawls I pivot a rod 47 to the feed pawl 23 and also to an arm of abell crank 48 which bell crank is pivoted to the upper coupling 18. Onearm of this bell crank is carried upwardly to a point adjacent thehandle 11 and is'secured to a suit able thumb piece 49. The operator bypressing said thumb piece to the handle 11 will lock the bell crank,lift the rod 47, and thus lift the feed pawl 23 against the tension of aspring 57. A rod 50 is pivotally connected at one end to the lockingpawl 43 and at the other end to a hand lever 51, pivoted adj acent thehandle 11, and by pressing said lever to said handle the rod 50 will belifted vertically, thus lifting both the pawls from engagement with theratchet.

As the device when in use will ordinarily sible base for the rest uponcross ties the supporting leg 3 is connected to a pipe section 53adapted to rest across two ties and as railroad ties are irregularlyplaced and are some times more than the average distance apart I providefor such displacement by inserting smaller slidable tubular extensions54 in the pipe member 53, locked against accidental movement by suitablesprings 55. The pipe 53 and the telescoping tubes 54 form an extenrearmember of the frame 1.

In Fig. 4 I have shown at 56 the spring pressed movable sections carriedby the in- .terior of the chuck for the purpose of gripping the bit, butI do not claim as a partof this invention any particular form of chuckor bit, as any suitable chuck and bit can be employed in connection withmy device.

What I claim is 1. A device of the kind described comprising a frame, aratchet wheel mounted upon the frame, a slidable shaft, a drill chuckcarried by such,shaft, means for rotating the shaft, a feed pawlengaging said ratchet wheel, and adapted to rotate the same step bystep, means for locking the ratchet wheel against reverse rotation, arack bar, means operated by rotation of the ratchet wheel for moving therack bar, a pivoted lever loosely connected to said rack bar, and meansconnecting the lever to the shaft, thereby sliding the shaft as thelever is moved.

2. A device of the kind described comprising an upright frame, adrilling mechanism carried by the lower portion of the frame, a feedmechanism carried by said frame, said feed mechanism including a pawl, abell crank, a thumb piece for operating said bell crank, a rod pivotallyconnected to said bell crank and to the said pawl, and adapted to liftsaid pawl into inoperative position,

thereby stopping the feed mechanism, a locking pawl preventing reversemovement of the feed mechanism, a lever operatively connected to saidlocking pawl and adapted to lift the same, and means carried by saidpawl whereby lifting of the locking pawl will also lift the feed pawl.

3. A device of the kind described comprising a frame, means forsupporting said frame, means for holding one of said supporting means toa rail, a drill operating mechanism carried by said frame, a feedmechanism for feeding the drill operating means toward a rail, said feedmechanism including a rack bar, the rack bar being slidable, a pivotedlever, the said lever being loosely connected to the rack bar, means forlocking said feed mechanism against reverse rotation, a spring connectedto the frame and to the lever, and means for disengaging the lockingmeans thereby permitting the spring to return the drill operatingmechanism, lever and rack bar to normal position.

4. A track drill comprising a chuck and bit, a pivoted lever adapted tomove said chuck and bit longitudinally, a ratchet, means for moving saidratchet step by step, means operable by the ratchet for moving thelever, means for releasing said ratchet, and means for drawing the leverback to its normal position upon release of the ratchet.

5. A track drill comprising a bit presentable to the side of a rail,means for rotating said bit, a lever for moving said bit to cuttingposition, feed mechanism operated in unison with the rotation of thedrill, said feed mechanism operating through said lever, means forlocking said feed mechanism against reverse movement, means forrendering said feed mechanism in-operative said means being independentof the rotation of the bit, and means for withdrawing the bit when saidfeed mechanism is in an inoperative position.

6. A track drill comprising a frame, a clutch and bit slidably carriedby said frame, a lever pivotally connected to the frame, movement ofsaid lever moving the bit longitudinally, a sprin holdin said lever innormal position a ongitudinally movable rack bar, said rack bar beingloosely connected to said lever, means for moving the rack bar step bystep, locking means for preventing reverse movement of said rack bar andlever, and means for releasing said locking means thereby permitting thespring to return said lever and rack bar to normal position, therebywithdrawing the bit.

FRANK E. DAMRON.

WVitnesses:

CHAS. E. BROGK, E. B. MCBATH.

